- Oxford and UCL to host new government-backed institute to develop next-generation AI that will be readily available to more businesses and services
- AI is already helping to diagnose cancer earlier and improve energy system resilience. These two new laboratories will ensure that the British public continues to benefit as technology advances.
- Backed by up to £60m of funding and access to massive computing power, the Institute will build the foundations for the next wave of AI breakthroughs to take place in the UK.
Two new research institutes led by the University of Oxford and University College London will share up to £60m of government funding to develop new breakthroughs in AI in the UK, it was announced today (Tuesday 23 June).
AI has quickly gone from being a staple of science fiction to something people use every day, including in the workplace, schools, and public services. This includes hospitals testing cancer patients, the energy sector designing better batteries, and accelerating drug discovery in medicine.
But we have only scratched the surface of what AI can bring to the economy, public services, and society. The UK is uniquely placed to lead fundamental efforts to make AI cheaper to run, more reliable and easier to deploy and use for businesses, researchers and public services across the UK.
Supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Institute will open up entirely new avenues for what AI can do, from building open source technologies that run on widely available hardware, including ordinary consumer computers, to rethinking how AI systems learn without requiring vast amounts of centralized computing power.
By focusing on changes to the fundamentals of AI that can reduce costs and improve performance, this work will help open up AI to far more organizations, support new breakthroughs, improve productivity and accelerate innovation across the UK.
Led by some of the world’s best universities, the UK is uniquely placed to lead this effort, helping to strengthen our economy and national security.
AI Minister Kanishka Narayan said:
We are just beginning to unlock the huge potential of AI to grow our economy and improve public services. With world-class universities and a wealth of AI expertise, the UK can set what happens next.
These new institutes will lead the world in fundamental work to make AI cheaper, more practical and easier to deploy so that more businesses and public services across the UK can benefit.
And by building this capacity domestically, with the support of some of the world’s leading universities, we are strengthening our own expertise, reducing our dependence on other countries and securing the UK’s place at the forefront of this technology. It was a fitting announcement to mark Alan Turing’s 114th birthday.
UCL Chair Professor David Barber said:
We are very excited to have UCL leading the new SOFAIR Lab. Today’s AI systems are great, but many still suffer from fundamental problems such as inaccurate responses to questions. Because these systems often use similar underlying architectures, SOFAIR brings together broader science and fresh ideas to create a new generation of open source models. This will reduce dependence on a small number of model providers and strengthen the UK’s sovereignty and position as a global player in AI.
Associate Professor Jacob Förster from the University of Oxford said:
The UK cannot win the global AI race by simply trying to outperform the biggest technology companies when it comes to data and computing. BOLD is about a different route, discovering fundamentally new ways to build AI that is more efficient, more open, and better suited to human needs.
By expanding on existing methods, as well as focusing on new paradigms for learning, we aim to secure the UK’s sovereign capacity in AI and ensure that academic research can shape the future of the field.
Professor Charlotte Dean, Senior Responsible Owner of the UKRI AI Program and Executive Chair of the EPSRC, said:
The UK is already one of the world’s leading countries in AI research.
We are one of the few countries in the world that has all the right ingredients, from an abundance of top AI experts to world-class universities.
These institutes leverage that advantage to support bold, high-paying ideas that have the potential to shape the future of AI. We look forward to working with the Institute to maximize the benefits for the UK.
The Science of Fundamental AI Research (SOFAIR) Lab develops new open-source AI technologies that can run on widely available hardware.
Led by UCL Professor David Barber, along with the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh, it will bring together researchers in computer science, mathematics, statistics and neuroscience to explore new ways to design AI systems. This makes advanced AI tools cheaper and more accessible.
The British Open-ended Learning and Discovery (BOLD) Lab reimagines how AI learns from the world around us.
The lab, led by Professor Jacob Foerster from the University of Oxford, will work with UCL and Imperial College London to develop systems that can learn more efficiently, adapt to new situations and navigate physical space. By focusing on practical, human-centered AI, the Lab will turn research into tools that can be used in the workplace, infrastructure, and public services, supporting widespread adoption across the economy.
The Government is providing up to £60m of funding through UKRI’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to support these labs over the next six years, alongside access to tens of millions of pounds worth of large-scale computing power – essentially processing power to run and train AI models.
Today’s announcement goes further than originally planned, doubling the number of laboratories from one to two and increasing total investment from £40m to up to £60m. This reflects the scale of the UK opportunity.
Both institutes will invest in top AI researchers at all stages of their careers, with £2 million per lab allocated to employ at least 10 PhD students, contributing to the development and growth of the UK’s talent pool. The institutes will also work closely with existing leaders in AI research in the UK, including the Alan Turing Institute and UKRI’s AI Research Hub.
The funding forms part of the UKRI AI Strategy, a £1.6 billion plan to strengthen the UK’s leadership in AI over the next four years. With world-class universities, leading researchers and a growing AI sector, the UK is well-placed to not only develop AI, but to enable more organizations to use it, strengthening the nation’s capabilities, resilience and long-term growth.
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